Headsail size
 

So I'm going to a roller furler jib for cruising. What size would be
best?
120, 135,150, etc!
Gordon

Headsail size
 

"Gordon" wrote in message
...
So I'm going to a roller furler jib for cruising. What size would be
best?
120, 135,150, etc!
Gordon

Depends on where you sail and where you're going I'd imagine.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

Headsail size
 

Gordon wrote:
So I'm going to a roller furler jib for cruising. What size would be
best?
120, 135,150, etc!
Gordon

It depends on your cruising area, and the times of year you sail.

I'd say the default answer is a 135 but for Chesapeake Bay or LI Sound
in summer cruising, a 150. For San Francisco Bay, 115 or 120...

For offshore cruising, I'd lean towards 135 but without knowing more
about your boat or plans, nobody can offer much advice

Evan Gatehouse

Headsail size
 

On Sat, 25 Nov 2006 22:14:35 -0800, in message

Evan Gatehouse2 wrote:

Gordon wrote:
So I'm going to a roller furler jib for cruising. What size would be
best?
120, 135,150, etc!
Gordon

It depends on your cruising area, and the times of year you sail.

I'd say the default answer is a 135 but for Chesapeake Bay or LI Sound
in summer cruising, a 150. For San Francisco Bay, 115 or 120...

For offshore cruising, I'd lean towards 135 but without knowing more
about your boat or plans, nobody can offer much advice

Since the numbers are calculated as LP/J*100, it also depends a lot on
the rig design, ranging from small foretriangle fractional rigs to
older masthead boats with a huge J dimension and a short boom. A 135
is a small sail on the former and a great big sail on the latter. My
boat fits into the latter category and I would probably choose about
110 for cruising comfort and ease of tacking, then hoist a spinnaker
off the wind if it isn't blowing.

Go see your sailmaker for advice based on local conditions, type of
boat, and the kind of sailing you want to do. It's usually free...

Ryk

Headsail size
 

Gordon wrote:

So I'm going to a roller furler jib for cruising.

A good choice I think, assuming you can afford a good one
and proper installation.

... What size would be best?
120, 135,150, etc!
Gordon

What size(s) do you normally carry?


Evan Gatehouse2 wrote:
It depends on your cruising area, and the times of year you sail.

I'd say the default answer is a 135 but for Chesapeake Bay or LI Sound
in summer cruising, a 150. For San Francisco Bay, 115 or 120...

For offshore cruising, I'd lean towards 135 but without knowing more
about your boat or plans, nobody can offer much advice


Right on... I like Phil Bolger's discussion along the same
lines, wherein he's asked how big a headsail some boat
should have, and he then asks how hard the wind is going to
blow.


Ryk wrote:
Since the numbers are calculated as LP/J*100, it also depends a lot on
the rig design, ranging from small foretriangle fractional rigs to
older masthead boats with a huge J dimension and a short boom. A 135
is a small sail on the former and a great big sail on the latter.

Good point. The Yankee 30 is a masthead, with large but not
extreme J dimension. I'd lean toward a larger genoa for
normal sailing and a staysail for the heavy days.


My
boat fits into the latter category and I would probably choose about
110 for cruising comfort and ease of tacking, then hoist a spinnaker
off the wind if it isn't blowing.

Go see your sailmaker for advice based on local conditions, type of
boat, and the kind of sailing you want to do. It's usually free...


A good sail inventory is a basic necessity, and I don't mean
large numbers of blown-out racing sails. It's amazing to me
how many people are cruising with crap sails. But then,
diesel fuel is still relatively cheap....

A cruising spinnaker, a 120 or 135 (depending on where & how
most sailing is to be done, I might even go to a 145 but
then I like to go fast) on a roller, and a staysail, would
be a good set-up.

Fresh BReezes- Doug King

Headsail size
 

After a couple of season of sailing my masthead rig Endeavour 32 using mostly the 130% roller genoa, I've been astounded to find out how much better it goes to windward with the small working jib. In winds strong enough to need some rolls on the genoa and a reef in the main, there is nearly a knot of difference in speed due to the cleaner leading edge and better shape. In lighter winds, the boat doesn't go much faster but feels better and steers more easily.

The downside is losing the increase in speed when the sheets are eased. I miss that feeling of rocketing away on a reach. Instead, the boat just maintains about the same speed as it was going to windward.

I'm going to sail a lot more with the working jib and am having a leach doubling sewn onto it this winter so I can leave it up more often without suffering sun damage. A cruising spinnaker was low on my list because I was pretty happy with the performance under the genoa for cruising and didn't think I wanted to deal with getting a downwind sail out of the bag and up. Now that I've seen how well the working jib is for windward work, I'm re-thinking.

I end up doing a lot of beating to windward. If I carry the genoa as my primary headsail, I'm now going to want to switch to the working jib for any long windward legs if there is any real breeze. That's an involved operation. Carrying the working jib as the primary headsail and getting an asymetrical spinnaker out for long reaching and downwind legs might be more fun and less work.

--
Roger Long

Headsail size
 

"Evan Gatehouse2" wrote in message
...
Gordon wrote:
So I'm going to a roller furler jib for cruising. What size would be
best?
120, 135,150, etc!
Gordon

It depends on your cruising area, and the times of year you sail.

I'd say the default answer is a 135 but for Chesapeake Bay or LI Sound in
summer cruising, a 150. For San Francisco Bay, 115 or 120...

For offshore cruising, I'd lean towards 135 but without knowing more about
your boat or plans, nobody can offer much advice

Evan Gatehouse

I'm considering a 130, and I sail in the SF bay. That's what Quantum
recommended... they can make one that's got the luff foam so the shape is
good when it's reefed. Most of the time, of course, it would down to 90%.
:-)

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

Headsail size
 

Roger Long wrote:
After a couple of season of sailing my masthead rig Endeavour 32 using
mostly the 130% roller genoa, I've been astounded to find out how much
better it goes to windward with the small working jib. In winds strong
enough to need some rolls on the genoa and a reef in the main, there is
nearly a knot of difference in speed due to the cleaner leading edge and
better shape. In lighter winds, the boat doesn't go much faster but
feels better and steers more easily.

The downside is losing the increase in speed when the sheets are eased.
I miss that feeling of rocketing away on a reach. Instead, the boat just
maintains about the same speed as it was going to windward.

I'm going to sail a lot more with the working jib and am having a leach
doubling sewn onto it this winter so I can leave it up more often
without suffering sun damage. A cruising spinnaker was low on my list
because I was pretty happy with the performance under the genoa for
cruising and didn't think I wanted to deal with getting a downwind sail
out of the bag and up. Now that I've seen how well the working jib is
for windward work, I'm re-thinking.

I end up doing a lot of beating to windward. If I carry the genoa as my
primary headsail, I'm now going to want to switch to the working jib for
any long windward legs if there is any real breeze. That's an involved
operation. Carrying the working jib as the primary headsail and getting
an asymetrical spinnaker out for long reaching and downwind legs might
be more fun and less work.

--
Roger Long

What brand of furler and is your sail set up with the luff foam or rope?
Thanks
Gordon

Headsail size
 

It's a 1980 vintage Harken furler which works great. The sail has the foam in the leading edge and the shape is pretty good. If the boat is a bit over pressed and I roll up about a foot and a half of sail, I'll see the speed go up. Shape degrades as the sail is furled further but it still looks like a sail when half rolled up. I think the big roll at the leading edge is more of a detriment than the shape change. Still, it's not as good a shape as the working jib when rolled to the same size.

The main flattens very nicely with the first reef. Two reefs and working jib in 25 - 30 knot winds and she is just a joy going to windward. For a none too stiff and wide sheeting base boat with a shoal keel, she makes surprising progress.


-- Roger Long

Headsail size
 

On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 16:01:13 +0000, Roger Long wrote:

After a couple of season of sailing my masthead rig Endeavour 32 using
mostly the 130% roller genoa, I've been astounded to find out how much
better it goes to windward with the small working jib. In winds strong
enough to need some rolls on the genoa and a reef in the main, there is
nearly a knot of difference in speed due to the cleaner leading edge and
better shape. In lighter winds, the boat doesn't go much faster but
feels better and steers more easily.

The downside is losing the increase in speed when the sheets are eased.
I miss that feeling of rocketing away on a reach. Instead, the boat just
maintains about the same speed as it was going to windward.

I'm going to sail a lot more with the working jib and am having a leach
doubling sewn onto it this winter so I can leave it up more often
without suffering sun damage. A cruising spinnaker was low on my list
because I was pretty happy with the performance under the genoa for
cruising and didn't think I wanted to deal with getting a downwind sail
out of the bag and up. Now that I've seen how well the working jib is
for windward work, I'm re-thinking.

I end up doing a lot of beating to windward. If I carry the genoa as my
primary headsail, I'm now going to want to switch to the working jib for
any long windward legs if there is any real breeze. That's an involved
operation. Carrying the working jib as the primary headsail and getting
an asymetrical spinnaker out for long reaching and downwind legs might
be more fun and less work.

Interesting. This shows how shape matters, and sail area isn't everything.

With the working jib, are your leads closer to centerline (in degrees),
than with the genoa? This could make a big difference in your pointing
ability and speed. Also, is your working jib simply newer, or otherwise
better than your genoa?

Cruising spinnakers are great, but definitely more work than jibs.
Screachers on roller furlers (detachable) are almost as easy as a jibs,
but don't go deep downwind as well as spinnakers. However if you're happy
with a genoa as a downwind sail, a screacher may be a good compromise.

Also, sorry to be a pain, but your last two wonderful messages were
almost unreadable with a text-only newsreader. There were no line breaks,
so I had to scroll horizontally. Outlook Express is famous for such
problems. I recommend turning HTML off and posting text-only, plus maybe
using an add-on like OE-Quotefix. Or changing newsreaders.

Matt O.